158 Chapter 5 The Federalist Era: Nationalism Triumphant
Still worse, the Westerners believed, was the way
the government was taxing them. In 1791, as part of
his plan to take over the debts of the states, Hamilton
had persuaded Congress to adopt a sales tax of 8 cents
a gallon on American-made whiskey. Excise taxes were
particularly disliked by most Americans. Collecting
this tax required hordes of government agents, armed
with the power to snoop into one’s affairs. Westerners,
who were heavy drinkers and who turned much of
their grain into whiskey in order to cope with the high
cost of transportation, were especially angered by the
tax on whiskey.
But Hamilton was determined to enforce the law.
To western complaints, he coolly suggested that
farmers drank too much to begin with. If they found
the tax oppressive, they should cut down on their
consumption. Of course this did nothing to reduce
western opposition to the tax. Resistance was espe-
cially intense in western Pennsylvania. When treasury
agents tried to collect it there, they were forcibly pre-
vented from doing so.
Revolution in France
Momentous events in Europe influenced the situa-
tion. In 1789 the French Revolutionerupted, and
four years later war broke out between France and
Great Britain and most of the rest of Europe. With
France fighting Great Britain and Spain, there arose
the question of America’s obligations under the
Alliance of 1778. That treaty required the United
States to defend the French West Indies “forever
against all other powers.” Suppose the British
attacked the French island of Martinique; must
America declare war on Britain? Legally the United
States was so obligated, but no responsible American
statesman urged such a policy. With the British in
Canada and Spanish forces to the west and south, the
nation would be in serious danger if it entered the
war. Instead, in April 1793, Washington issued a
proclamation of neutrality committing the United
States to be “friendly and impartial” toward both
sides in the war.King Louis XVI of France is beheaded in Paris, January 21, 1793. Alexander Hamilton recommended termination of the nation’s alliance with
France. Thomas Jefferson argued that the treaty should be preserved because it had been made with the French people and not the
monarch. As the French Revolution became still bloodier, American enthusiasm for the French radicals, and for radicalism in general, began
to wane.